Katie Gelman (she/her) | Senior Vice President | kgelman@omni.org

Dr. Katie Gelman has 20+ years of expertise in leading clients through their evaluation journey, with a firm grounding in advanced academic training and a career dedicated to applying industry best practices to benefit clients and their communities. As a Senior Vice President at OMNI Institute, Dr. Gelman oversees OMNI’s senior project delivery teams while serving as the practice area lead for our work in Community Health and Behavioral Health.

Dr. Gelman’s experience spans research design and quantitative methods, (including applied epidemiological methods, technical assistance, and capacity building) and program management and implementation— including leadership of research and evaluation projects spanning single-site implementation to national cross-site studies—all with a core commitment to centering health equity and social determinants of health. Recently, Dr. Gelman has overseen OMNI’s rapid business expansion into various new geographic markets while overseeing OMNI’s portfolio of projects evaluating Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)-funded formula and discretionary grants in multiple states. These grants include the Substance Use Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery Services Block Grant (SUPTRS), State Opioid Response (SOR), Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF, SPF-PFS, SPF-Rx), and numerous discretionary funding streams across the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT), Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP), and Center for Mental Health (CMHS).

Dr. Gelman is active within the Colorado Public Health Association, including past service as Board Treasurer, serves on the Colorado Prevention Certification Board, and is a Colorado Certified Prevention Specialist II. Growing up on the East Coast, she now lives in the Denver metro area with her husband and three sons and has called Colorado her home for twenty years.

“I love the clients that we work with. Their passion for the work they do is inspiring, and I love that we can contribute to their social change efforts through data and evaluation. I am always learning something new- be it from a new client, or a totally new content area!”

CONTENT EXPERTISE

Behavioral Health

Community Health

Substance Use Disorder Prevention

EDUCATION

University of Colorado
Dr.PH., Community and Behavioral Health

Boston University
Master of Public Health

Skidmore College
B.A., Neuroscience

+ Certifications, Memberships, Awards, and Service

  • Board Member, Colorado Providers Association (2019-2020)
  • Ad hoc reviewer, Child Development; Archives of Sexual Behavior (2018)
  • Board Treasurer, Colorado Public Health Association (2017-present)
  • Board Member, Colorado Prevention Certification Board (2014-present)
  • Commissioner and Data Workgroup Co-Chair, Denver Drug Strategy Commission (2013-2015)
  • Delta Omega, Public Health Honor Society (2006)
  • Colorado Certified Prevention Specialist II (CPS II) (2013-Present)
  • Mental Health First Aid Training (2015)
  • Completion, Leadership Practicum (2013)
  • Short Course in Survey Sampling and Estimation, Joint Program in Survey Methodology (2010)

+ Selected Publications

  1. Gelman K, Whitesell N, Brooks-Russell A, Mousseau A, Asdigian N, Kaufman C. (In Preparation). Examining the relationships between different types of stress and emergent marijuana use within an adolescent American Indian population. Manuscript submitted for publication.

  2. Gelman K, Whitesell N, Baron A, Brooks-Russell A, Mousseau A, Kaufman C. (In Preparation). Mediators and moderators of emergent marijuana use among American Indian adolescents: A test of relationships between risk and protective factors. Manuscript submitted for publication.

  3. Gelman K, Kaufman C, Mousseau A, Brooks-Russell A, Asdigian N, Whitesell N. (In Preparation). Testing measurement invariance of an ethnic identity factor structure over time and across gender within an early adolescent American Indian population. Manuscript submitted for publication.

  4. Frost M, Cares A, Gelman K, Beam R. (2016). Accessing sexual and reproductive health care and information: Perspectives and recommendations from young Asian American women. Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare, 10, 9-13.

  5. Richmond M, Page K, Rivera L, Reimann B, & Fischer L. (2013). Trends in Detection Rates of Risky Marijuana Use in Colorado Healthcare Settings. Substance Abuse, 34 (3), 248-55.

  6. OMNI Institute, in partnership with Colorado Department of Education. [lead author]. (2012). Healthy Kids Colorado Survey, 2011 State Report.

+ Selected Presentations

  1. Crow O, Molina P, Turetsky R, Grody-Patinkin I, Gelman K. (2019). The Health Equity Toolkit for Rural & Remote Communities in Colorado. Presented at the Public Health in the Rockies Conference, Keystone CO, August 2019.
  2. Simhai J, Gelman K. (2019). Using Behavioral Health Data to Promote Equity in Prevention. Presented at the Culture of Data Conference, Denver CO, May 2019.

  3. Hirsh H, Swan J, Kester C, Gelman K. (2018). The NAATP Pilot Program 2015-2018. Presented at the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers Leadership Conference, Denver CO, May 2018.

  4. Gelman K (2017). The role of ethnic identity in the development of marijuana use among young adolescents on a Northern Plains reservation: Measurement, findings, and limitations. Presented at the Native Children’s Research Exchange, Denver CO, September 2017.

  5. Gelman K, Tuitt N, Whitesell NR, Kaufman CE, Mousseau A. (2016). Measuring the role of culture in American Indian and Alaska Native adolescent health outcomes. Presented at the American Public Health Association meeting, Denver CO, November 1, 2016.

  6. Gelman K & Love E. (2014). Marijuana Policy and Prevention Perspectives from Colorado: An Overview. Panelist and presentation at the Protecting Brain Development: Investing in Adolescent Brain Health Forum, November 13, 2014.

  7. Rivera L, Richmond M, Page K, Reimann B, Fischer L. (2013). Screening and Brief Intervention as a Model to Identify and Reduce Marijuana Use Among Patients Seeking Health Care. Presented at the Society for Prevention Research Conference, May 2013.

  8. Love E, Page K & Sherman A. (2012). One step forward, one step back: A qualitative exploration of attitudes toward the addition of sexual orientation items to a YRBS survey in a local control state. Paper accepted for the annual meeting of the American Evaluation Association, October 2012, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.